Reasons #4389 why I love Melbourne...

Yesterday I found myself at Doncaster Shoppingtown waiting to pick up some photo's. I had an hour to kill so I made my way to Cafe Moda to have myself a coffee and flick through the newspaper.

I sat myself down and browsed through the pile of magazines and newspapers and found a book! I opened it up and realised it wasn't just any book.... It was a travelling book! It had been left at the coffee shop for anyone to find and read, and pass it on to someone else...

Has anybody else heard of BookCrossing? I hadn't, but I am sure glad that I have now! The idea is that people sign up to the bookcrossing website and they can "release" books into the "wild" for other people to find. Whoever find the book can log onto the website and enter the registration code and see who else has read it and where it has been! After they have read it, the process starts all over again!

I think this idea is so much fun! I love that I can see who else has read it and what they thought, and its totally free!! Head over here to find out some more about it and get involved!

Big thanks to whoever left this little treasure for me to find :)

image by teecer

Skipping girl up in lights!

video by Michael

Has anyone seen The Skipping Girl Vinegar is back up in lights? I had heard rumours that it was but was yet to see it with my own eyes. Michael from My Aching Head sent us over a snippet of the girl in action. Thanks!

Explained here:
"The "Little Audrey" neon sign, also known as "Skipping Girl" first lit up the sky in the 1930s. But it has not been fully illuminated in eight years.

The sign was taken down after a public appeal raised more than $100,000 for repairs and maintenance.

Martin Purlow of the National Trust said the Skipping Girl was nominated as a children's icon. "Obviously a lot of people have got a lot of love for Audrey so it really hasn't been difficult to get the public's imagination with this project," he said.

Jenny Hume of the Friends of Audrey said they collected 3,000 signatures of people wanting to get her skipping again.

"They all said, I remember when. We remember," she said.

The sign will be powered by renewable energy when "Little Audrey" is turned back on in June.

The 67 year old sign fell into disrepair and was turned off in 2001."

more fairies...

One of my favorite things in the world is people who do things Just Cos It'd Good. Not to make money, not to raise their profile, just because they thought it would be good.

One of these such things is the Fitzroy Gardens Fairy Tree.

From 1931 to 1934, the tree was carved by Miss Ola Cohn. She says in the foreword to her book "The Fairies Tree":

"I have carved in a tree in the Fitzroy Gardens for you, and the fairies, but mostly for the fairies and those who believe in them, for they will understand how necessary it is to have a fairy sanctuary - a place that is sacred and safe as a home should be to all living creatures."

Unidenitified....?

So, not the best picture I know, but this was taken last weekend out and about on Brunswick Street and I wasn't in any state to be worrying about how I only had half the car in the shot... oops!

This is the most awesome car I have ever seen. I would love to know who owns this so I could interview them. I love talking to people who do things just because they thought it would be good, and perhaps this car is one of those things?

If anyone knows who owns it or has seen it around be sure to let us know!